Frustrated by the lack of jobs and middle-class progress? Dispirited by the fading American Dream? Don't blame capitalism. Blame regulation and politicians who push it.

Some people, it seems, live to rail against free markets and free enterprise, holding them responsible for flat wages, lack of opportunity, income gaps, middle-class stagnation, poverty and economic listlessness. They're convinced private greed holds back the government's ability to improve conditions.

But it's the government that's done the most damage to economic growth, new research shows.

America is now more of a regulatory state than a haven of free enterprise  a development that has not come without measurable cost.

A study published this month, for example, observes that if just federal regulation (state regulation wasn't considered) had remained at the level it was in 1949, the economy would be more than 3.5 times bigger than it is. "Regulation's overall effect on output's growth rate is negative and substantial," economists John Dawson and John Seater write in "Federal Regulation and Aggregate Economic Growth" Published in the June issue of the "The Journal of Economic Growth."

"Federal regulations added over the past 50 years," they say, "have reduced real output growth by about two percentage points on average (annually) over the period 1949-2005. That reduction in the growth rate has led to an accumulated reduction in GDP of about $38.8 trillion as of the end of 2011.

"That is, GDP at the end of 2011 would have been $53.9 trillion instead of $15.1 trillion, if regulation had remained at its 1949 level."

Numbers that big aren't easy to put into perspective. But at a more micro level, they mean losses of "$277,100 per household and $129,300 per person" per year, the the authors reckon.

Obama is a "Latter Day Communist" and a Moslem intent on his Caliphate.

Western thinking has become conservative: the world situation should stay as it is at any cost; there should be no changes. .... The communist regime in the East could stand and grow due to the enthusiastic support from an enormous number of Western intellectuals who felt a kinship and refused to see communism's crimes. And when they no longer could do so, they tried to justify them. In our Eastern countries, communism has suffered a complete ideological defeat; it is zero and less than zero. But Western intellectuals still look at it with interest and with empathy, and this is precisely what makes it so immensely difficult for the West to withstand the East. [Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn at the Commencement, 8 June 1978, Harvard University]

We stayed ahead of the rest of the world because they were socialist and we were free. So the ignorant voters, egged on by politicians, decided they should get other people’s stuff, and just like everywhere else, government took away freedom.

Now there is less stuff for everyone, except those well-connected to government. Big Government politicians tell the ignorant that their votes will get them food stamps and free birth control, and the economy is destroyed for everyone but government cronies. USSR government officials lived in dachas, while the people lived in dumps. ‘Twas ever thus.

One thing that can supercharge the US economy is a massive overhaul of income tax regulations.

Imagine what the US economy would be like if we had the flat tax Steve Forbes proposed in 1996 or the FairTax proposal (H.R. 25/S. 122) instead of the current income tax--the result would unemployment rate approaching "replacement" level (5%) and DJIA approaching 22,000!

“Now there is less stuff for everyone, except those well-connected to government.”

Not only is there less stuff, but the quality and utility of the stuff has declined due to regulations. We have washing machines that won’t clean clothing because they can’t use enough water make the soap work. We have expensive light bulbs that have to be disposed of by a haz mat team. We have water saving toilets that take three flushes to get the poo down. We have toaster with electrical cords that are too short to reach an outlet. We have ethanol blended gasoline that ruins engine parts while driving up food prices. We have medicine bottles old people with arthritis cannot open. Our automobiles are shrinking into cramped sardine cans so manufacturers can hit government imposed mpg requirements. We experience brownouts and power surges because utilities have taken coal plants offline.

With respect to the ignorant voters, those third and fourth generation welfare recipients have a lifestyle beyond the dreams of 95% of the people on the planet. They enjoy cell phones, food, bling, wide screen televisions, designer purses, free housing, free healthcare and plenty of leisure time. Freedom to them is freedom to procreate or not. If they choose to procreate the government will pay for the maintenance and education of the children. If they choose not to procreate, the government will pay for birth control and abortions. If you have zero ambition, free food and housing, money in your pocket, all the sex you can handle with no responsibility, a high definition television and free cable, what’s not to like about living in the dumps? It is only the working people in the middle who want more for themselves and their families who are being squeezed. The wealthy and the government supported poor have their needs being met in today’s America.

7
posted on 06/29/2013 4:50:32 AM PDT
by Soul of the South
(Yesterday is gone. Today will be what we make of it.)

And the left will respond by saying that “more freedom” means domination and subjugation of those less capable of competing. We tend to look at theses challenges as issues of government, policy, and law. I’m more inclined to see things your way, at least what I’m assuming is your way, that is, government interferes in the normal resolution of competition between people.

“If we concentrated on the really important stuff in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles......”

By Junius P. Long

Food For Thought

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally ...you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we got here is evolution, but the government stops a $15 million construction project to keep a rare spider from evolving to extinction ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, check in at the doctor’s office, buy liquor, or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teachers “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested homes... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing and free cell phones ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working with 99 weeks of unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but cant find work ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

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